Batman: Knights and Riddles
by Theriddler101
Summary: It has been a year and a half since the siege of Gotham and the apparent "death" of The Batman. John "Robin" Blake has been training to take up the mantle since he discovered the cave with instructions from Bruce Wayne (who's traveling Europe with Selina Kyle). Things have been quiet for the past year, but something is lurking in the shadows... something that riddles the mind...
1. Chapter 1

**Batman: Knights and Riddles**

It has been a year and a half since the siege of Gotham and the apparent "death" of The Batman. John "Robin" Blake has been training to take up the mantle since he discovered the cave with instructions from Bruce Wayne (who's traveling Europe with Selina Kyle). Things have been quiet for the past year, so Blake has had plenty of time to train to become the next crime fighter of Gotham City. Thing is the last six months have been filled with whispers of new threat in the city. One growing in the most the most ironic of places…

Chapter One: Let the Games Begin

Night time: Once the worst time for crime has become the best of times for. The alley's fill with games of risk, chance, and chuckles of Russian Rolette. Especially one ally in particular; one that has taken the name of Crime Ally to the underground world of Gotham City. It is located behind the abandoned opera house, the same place where the Batman was born. There many thugs and gangsters risk their lives for cold hard cash. "It's the only honest money I can get", most say. In some aspects there right. Jobs have become even harder to uphold since the siege of Gotham. Almost no was or is thug is trusted since then, so they all come here; to the game tables. Most play poker for cheap change. The Big bucks are in the Russian Bullets and Craps.

As the games take place, a stubby man in a ripped tux, slicked hair, a pointy nose, and a monocle with a gold rim walks around with two armed henchman and a black umbrella. Every man he passes trembles and sweats in fear. He passes all the tables and side games till he comes to a game of craps closest to the old opera exit. It is heated and one of the guys, who was in a t-shirt and ripped jeans, is screaming "You stupid fed you're cheating!" There the stubby man stops and snaps his fingers. The howling crowd observing the game between the two rolling combatants go silent and disperse. One is in a t-shirt and jeans and the other is wearing a a black sweater vest and white shirt. His back is turned from the stubby man, while the other looks in fear. The jean wearing one then gives the dice to the stubby man, as he grins at him as if to say "I'll take care of this". The vest man does not move.

"You have been a lucky man, mate" Says the stubby man in a thick British accent. "You've rolled every night, losing little and gaining much. Is there something your pullin over my eyes love? This isn't the first time someone has accused you of cheatin which I think is all good fun, but being a fed.." The stubby man roles the dice in his palms and then tosses them at the green man's black shoes. "Well?" He asks.

The vest man turns to the stubby man with a smirk, revealing his stubble face and glasses, as well as a green tie. "Now Penguin, why would I do that when you have two armed henchman and an umbrella with a hidden gun in its rod?"

The penguin smiles at the remark. "I see my reputation precedes me Mr…"

"Oh my name is not important, but YOURS is. Why bother with me?" The man shows his badge.

The Penguin smiles a wicked grin "well you got guts my boy, I'll give you that. Now I'd hate for our first meeting to be our last so…" The umbrella points at the man's abdomen. "Are you truly here to play or ruin my system? Cause to be honest, I hate feds"

The man laughs. "You not afraid of anything are you Mr. Penguin?"

"I don't get scared of a man who is accused of being a fed in a nobody place and has no name."

"Well I may be someone important. Hell I may be no one. Yes I'm a fed, ex if you like. I just wanted you're attention you see?" The man puts the badge away. "And I did. You see Penguin you are one of the most influential men in this pit of a city!. You're a someone who gets things done, and you're unafraid, which is why I've come here. To get your attention and ask for a partnership"

Penguin grows a grotesque smile. "Is that so?"

"Oh of course. You see I still have connection in the bureau and I heard from a buzzing bee you can get dirt on anyone Penguin."

"Why yes I can and please call me Oswald"

"Okay Oswald. Well you're a man of connection. Power. Someone who can, how do I put this… save this broken city."

"Your point Mr. "

"Do you remember the Batman Oswald?"

"Of course. He was bad for business when I started out. He took out Morone and his guys, in my parents old place during the joker crisis. Basically he left us with nothing "

"He has been gone for a while has he not? The city has fallen so deep since his involvement and HONEST men like you can't even get an honest job" the glasses man says with sympathy. "The bat left us with broken officials, a city divided with the wrong people on top

"Yeah but…"

"The Batman is gone, Oswald. There's no question about that. The best you've got are these dam games. I think it's time to revel. Take back what's ours from the filth that runs this town."

"How? Riot? That happened…"

"Yes, but that bane character had it all wrong. True chaos comes from more than toppling cars; to send a message, one must truly plant the chaos. As a great man once said, "chaos is fear." And that's what we must make the city see in itself so we, the true people of Gotham, sit on top."

Oswald lowers his umbrella. "And you can get this done?"

"With your help yes. If you give me all the dirt you have on anyone with a political or influential background, and plenty of security codes I can take this city to its true level with my creative methods."

"Which are?"

"Oh… let's not spoil it."

"Hm… how can I trust you?"

"Do you see anybody else willing to do something this relevant; anybody else who is connected?"

"Ha! Your right! Here come with me. Maybe it's time we began this push of yours."

With a pat on the back, Oswald walks away as the man follows. The glasses man takes out a piece of paper and then a green pencil and scribble on the paper a tone of green question marks quickly and with a lot of pressure as he giggles under his breath, following Oswald. "Let the games begin." He says as his smile grows, and he and Oswald are consumed by the darkness of a nearby warehouse.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The Protege **

Water drips from the stalactites and water falls of the cave as Blake swings at the air with a pair of apparent virtual goggles on and nothing but a pair of mesh pants. His sweat drips all over his chest, and his hair. He makes a round house kick and stops when he hears footsteps. He takes off the goggles to see a familiar butler with a tray that has a protein shake on it.

"Master Blake, your worse than Master Bruce; You've been at this for 2 hours straight. It's midnight. All the orphans are asleep. You should join them. Clear your head."

Blake smiles as he walks over and takes the red shake "Alfred please. How can I make Bruce proud if I can't stay up past midnight?"

Alfred smirks back as he takes the goggles off of Blake. "Even Master Bruce had limits Blake, even though he was afraid to show them. The last thing you need today is sleep deprivation because you can't get enough of Mr. Fox's new toy."

"Last time I checked Bruce was the one cavorting through the night in a Bat suit."

"That may be but look at the situations he was in. Crime was all over Gotham; now there isn't even a peep of it."

"Just you wait Alfred. Something's bound to happen. You know this city better than anyone. It doesn't stay quiet for long."

Blake does a summer sault front flip off the platform he was on to one with a giant computer which seemed to be scanning every known crime file in police reports. In its far right corner, it blinked green letters that say ALERT.

"Well Alfred" says Blake as he cleans himself with a towel and sits in the computer chair, "It may be quiet, but the Bat Computer scan of the Police database seems to have picked up a slight virus. "

"Did you say Bat Computer Sir?" Said Alfred with confusion.

"Yeah since everything is related to bats I thought I'd call it that. You like it?"

Alfred laughs. "Well it's more creative than Master Bruce that's for sure. Be careful though. Next thing you'll name everything after Bats, like the car or something."

Blake laughs as Alfred walks up the black cave steps to the elevator. "Good night Alfred", Says Blake.

"Good night sir" he replies.

Blake then begins to examine the alert closely. Luckly not only did Blake get instructions to the Bat Cave from Bruce but he also got a whole manual on how to use the various forms of equipment to be batman such as how to where the suit, how to use the computer; the list was endless. If it weren't for the quit in Gotham, Blake may not have reviewed it all; but he has. From beginning to end. All he really needs is some field experience, and from what this alert said, he could get it. Not only does this alert speak of a back yard virus in the system, but that it's located in all private personal documents and data files on Policeman, Detectives etc. This seems kind of strange, but if someone stole this info that he is witnessing, it would take one spill to pour Gotham back into chaos. Also the computer system The GCPD had was fairly secure, so whoever was doing this was determined and damn good with computers, since no one was stopping it. _It seems someone has a vendetta against the police department, but who? _Thought Blake. Words pop up suddenly saying 30 MIN. TILL VIRUS INISTIATES. Suddenly, Blake when red with worry and excitement, and with rapid hands he tried to trip up the virus with fire walls and blockades, but it was just breaking through_ This thing is vicious. Can I atleast get a lock? _He thought. Then suddenly the computer said POINT OF ORIGIN: ACE CHEMICALS BUILDING. Blake then smirked and thought_ looks like I've got to stop the source_. So, with a click of a button Blake raised a center piece on the tall platform he was working out on reveal the armor of a legend. The Bat suit. He then slips it on piece by piece the, as quick as he can. The adrenilane flowing through him was insane and when the alert said 25MINUTES TILL CONTACT, Blake had fully donned the cape and cal. With a press on the intercome button hidden in the helmet, Blake contact the commissioner. "Hello?" said Gorden. "Jim, it's me. There's a virus uploading on to your server. It will be complicated to find, but you need to try. I'm going to destroy the source." "So you're finally doing it hu kid?" Blake smiled. "It's time I gots some field work. I'm heading to the Ace Chemicals building. I'll phone if I need backup."

"Good luck kid." And like that the connection was cut by Blake. He knew he needed to get there fast, but he was not quit conferrable with The BAT yet, so he grabbed the nearby bat pod. With a revving sound, he started it up and flew through the Waterfall. At that exact moment, Blake felt the pressure, and he official felt he was Batman.

From a control panel covered in many screens, admiring all the documents he has and will have along with a countdown of now 20 minutes, the vest man sits and laughs as he listens to a recording of the commissioners conversation with someone who seems to have the emo of the Dark Knight, since his com cannot be traced and it surprisingly fast acting. He smirks and giggles at the arise of this "Batman kid" who he merely thinks is playing dress up. While thinking this the man constantly draws more and more question marks on a sheet of paper his green pencil. It's like he doesn't even know he's doing it. Suddenly the penguin shows up with two big hulking thugs. "Alright, so you're getting what you want. Now wat." The vest man puts up a finger as his shadowed chair back is to the Penguin. "Be patient my powerful friend." He then clicks a button and bunch of green question marks show up on one of the many screens just floating there, and then on another, and another. Suddenly the countdown is now 10!"This is only the beginning". Suddenly the vest man laughs a very small manic laugh, making the penguin even cringe.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Riddle Me This? The wind was a like an ice wave at the speed Blake was going on the Batpod, but his adrenalin was so high, it felt like a cool breeze between the creases of the bat suit. Driving the bat pod came the easiest to Blake when it came to the gadgets since he loved motorcycles, and this wasn't much different. The buildings and cars swerved past like lines of pure light and and like no time at all, he was in the Shadow of the of the Ace Chemicals building. It looked completely abandoned but that was the scary part to Blake. This is to easy, he thought as he reached for his com on his helmet. "Gordon come in" said Blake in a deep voice. "What's up kid?" "Can you give me a 50 foot Perimeter, and some stand by?" "That suspicious hu? Alright, but do you have to do the voice?" Blake giggled. "Sorry. Necessary precaution." Said Blake and then he cut the com. He then parked the bat pod to the side of the Ace Chemicals building, hoping it is unseen, and walks through the front door. From his screens of green, the vested man watched as the mimicking bat parked and walked into the empty lobby of the Ace Chemicals building and the vested man smiled as he signaled to the Penguin behind him. "Send them in" said the penguin to his goons. The vested man then chuckled and drew more question marks on a new piece of paper. His other one was at his foot, smothered and ripped with green question marks. Blake stood there in the pitch black darkness of the room. Nothing but the smell of dust balls and hospital filled the room as he tried to scan it with his still untrained eyes He did not wish to use the new detective vision based on sonar tech. At least not yet, since it still had some bugs to kick out. Suddenly a spot light shine right on him. He stood there shocked to have been expected, but did not move thinking it would be sign of weakness: Something Bruce never showed. Suddenly a voice seeped from all over. "Kill him" it said in an electronic raspy way, and suddenly a click of guns could be heard from all around Blake, and without hesitation he smirked and dropped a smoke bomb right from where he was standing. Like clock work he dropped it and they fired. In the confusion he slid into the darkness under a nearby lab table, and activated the vision. His eyes where now covered with lenses that light the room up, allowing him to see in the dark. Still since it was buggy, the environment looked like it was in constant vibration and if you moved to quickly it got worse. From where he was there where six guys with guns (Three to his right and three on his left), all shocked to have missed. This was just as risky as Blake expected, but just as predictable. With then a stern resolute. Blake drew three baterangs and snuck a bottle from the top of the table. He then chucked the bottle to his far front where it crashed causing all six of them to turn there backs to him. Perfect he thought and then with incredible speed, he through the three baterangs at the three to his right it caused them all to trip up and shoot wildly as they fell. Then with this distracting the people to his left, he slid kicked one knocked the other two with jabs to the gullet and then a round house kick. As the other three got there footing he dived at them, grabbing the first, throwing him into the second and then kicked both of them into the third. They all fell as the third tried to get up. Blake straight up kicked him in the face. They were then all out cold. Blake smiled and said "You let your goons do all your work? Show yourself!" and suddenly all the lights turned on simultaneously, revealing green question marks all marked up on the walls and a clock in front of Blake that read 6:50 and seamed to be counting down, but there where no bombs. "Well done impersonator." said the electronic voice. "You seem well versed in the way of the bat physicaly, but you are not him. Your intellectual prowess says it all. Only a fool would forget there main objective, and that's exactly what you did. You're so caught up in finding a goon leader have you forgotten the police records" Suddenly got hot and realized what the timer was. 5:10 was how much time he had to stop the collecting of all the police records he then began to panic, looking all over the room for the contraption that may be doing this. "Oh you won't find it in there boy wonder" Blake looked up insulted by such a comment. This menace obviously thought Blake was no Batman. "But I will give you a chance to stop me" Said the voice and then suddenly the timer stopped at 4:00. Blake was confused. "You see boy, I'm a bit of a gamesmen. I like games. Riddles mostly. You can call me the Riddler, since I know this cities people just love derogative names. But that is beside the point. I challenge you to a game impersonator. If you can solve my riddle, I will stop the download." The Penguin stomped up to Riddler with steam in his ears. "A game? Your going to sacrifice your entire plan on a game?" The Riddler turned his greasy stubbled face to the Penguins with extreme seriousness. "What's the point of winning if you can't have a little fun." he said in his eerie voice. The penguin saw Riddler's eyes. They where as black as the night sky. It was terrifying how much this guy really was. Penguin backed off, realizing how much of a dumb decision he had made dealing with a man like this; someone who seemed to have no soul. Riddler then turned and said into the intercom "Riddle me this". 


	4. Author's Note Chapter 4 Coming SOON!

Author's note: Chapter 4 in Progress

Don't worry readers it's on its way. Chapter 4 of Batman: Knights and Riddles will be premering sometime next week. I'm just very busy with my college assignments right now. But don't worry! Blake as Batman will have one hell of a first challenge. The only question is this: Can he defeat a mind such as Riddlers?


End file.
